Womens Indoor Regionals Report 2012
UWIR 12/13 was to be an exciting one for WOW. From only having 2 players remaining at the end of last year, we had managed to recruit a dozen or so women to WOW and we were all excited to be able to participate in regionals and show the other teams that we had an awesome new team.
Our first game of the day started with a game against Bears 2. With the majority of the team not having played in a tournament before, this was a good match to start out with. Both teams were learning to play with each other and the game ended with WOW winning by a couple of points.
Second game: BUF+2WOW girls. This was a relaxed game and the fact that we were both Oxford teams was a reason for the slightly playful atmosphere, with the BUF girls dancing on the sideline now and again as points were scored. WOW were very quick at getting into the tournament and this game was a great improvement from the previous one. We had great handler movement and cutters were finding free spaces to run into. However, the match ended with BUF beating us by a very small margin.
Our third game was to be a tough one. Match against UBU1. We had seen them shatter UEA (AyeAye), a strong team, so we knew this was going to be a challenge. We fought hard and managed to score some points but we were no match against a team consisting of experienced players. But we saw it as a learning experience and weren’t disheartened by the result.
We managed to claim our second victory in our pool game, this time against Fling 2, a good-spirited team. We had heard about their handler weave, but by sticking tight to our opponents when on D and running hard when on O, we managed to win the game which was a confidence boost after the defeat against UBU1.
Our last pool game was against UEA. Oh how I do love playing against this team! It was a fantastic match. WOW’s play was the best yet, with the girls making great D’s and scoring against more experienced players. AyeAye are a wonderfully spirited team and the game was very enjoyable indeed with UEA defeating us but not by much.
The first cross-over match against Bears1 started off rather disorganised as WOW were busy playing calls with UEA and as a result were slightly late to start the match (whoops). Bears1 had very experienced players on their team and liked to zone us (or as I like to call it: zöning). It was our hardest match yet and ended with a victory to the opponents.
However, our performance was to continue to soar throughout the day. WOW powered through the game against UBU2 in the 8 vs 10 match. Even though our opponents had taller women, we had the speed and our players were to discover that they could make some amazing Ds and catches. WOW managed to win comfortably compared to our previous games.
Our second last game of the day: Another match against UEA. This was a match that both teams really wanted as winning this would put the winner in the game-to-go (4vs5) match. However, even though we had improved throughout the day, it was hard to defeat a more experienced team. UEA defeated us once again but it was yet another fantastic match.
Finally the 7vs8 match. This turned out to be against BUF again. As both teams were really tired and with a long journey ahead of us, we kindly asked the organisers to let us reschedule the game so that we could play back in Oxford instead. So this match was played a couple of days later in the Brookes Sport Centre. This time the game was more serious. We had both WOW and BUF supporters and we got to show how awesome women in Oxford could be at ultimate. The game was close but WOW managed to secure a win and end 7th in regionals.
So what else can I say about this weekend? I think we all had a great time. Jane was always there as a handler, Jo made some amazing catches in the endzone and Andrea made amazing Ds against UBU2. Izzy was quick to take the initiative as a back-up handler, Rebekka scored some great points, Serena made some amazing catches and thanks to Emily and Marianne who were fantastic extra players for BUF. Nicki, you saved my neck by just being awesome and helping us all out when we got into sticky situations. Thank you also to Aron who drove some of us to Norwich and supported us on the sideline. Finally a big thank you (and hug) to Harry, who helped organise the team, be an amazing cuddly mascot and supporter of WOW throughout the tournament.
That’s all from me. I am very proud of what WOW achieved during the weekend and I look forward to women’s outdoor regionals next term.
Jess (WOW captain)